One of the crucial components to push Indonesia into becoming an advanced nation is the human element. To this end, equality in human development should be encouraged.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Government should encourage a more uniform spread of quality human resources through education, Presidential expert staff member, Billy Mambrasar, said at an online talk show here on Wednesday.

According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the national Human Development Index (IPM) reached 72.29 in 2021, he noted.

Jakarta contributed the highest IPM of 81.11, while the contribution from Indonesia's eastern regions such as Papua and West Papua was below the national average at 60.62 and 65.26, respectively, he pointed out.

"One of the crucial components to push Indonesia into becoming an advanced nation is the human element. To this end, equality in human development should be encouraged," he affirmed.

Papua was the province with the highest percentage of illiteracy in 2020, he said.

The illiteracy percentage stood at 22.1 percent for the population below 15 years of age, 20.38 percent for the population in the 15–44 age bracket, and 26.95 percent for the population above 45 years of age in the province, he informed.

"The government has made a relatively serious effort. President Jokowi (Joko Widodo) said that this should be accelerated by improving infrastructure, quality, and increasing the number of teachers," Mambrasar said.

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The government has also allocated 20 percent of its state budget for the education sector every year, he added.

President Jokowi has urged the education sector to conduct a digital transformation so that Indonesia's outermost regions can still access education digitally despite the limited number of teachers, he said.

Indonesian youth can actually participate in creating more egalitarian education between the western and eastern regions, he remarked.

The younger generation could build learning centers to teach children in the remote regions how to read, write, and calculate, he said.

"This is also supported by the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry with the Kampus Mengajar (Campus Teaching) program where university students spend a semester to one year teaching in remote regions," he remarked.

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Translator: Sanya Dinda, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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